


Together Though We're Apart

by FirebirdsDaughter



Category: Kamen Rider Build
Genre: F/M, I kept wondering where Misora's mother was, I'm so sorry, Souichi's inability to make coffee is now a Thing, i am a monster, so here she is
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-23
Updated: 2018-01-23
Packaged: 2019-03-08 11:53:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13457706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FirebirdsDaughter/pseuds/FirebirdsDaughter
Summary: Most people remembered it as the day the country split into three—she remembered it as the the day herfamilysplit into three.





	Together Though We're Apart

**Author's Note:**

> So I apparently hate myself?  
> Why, Firebird? Why did you have to go and right a happy, pre-series family fic for the Isurugi family? Why did you have to hurt yourself like that?  
> I DON'T KNOW.  
> This isn't even that good? It's pretty crappy, and corny and I'm pretty poor at writing any sort of romantic relationships. But it also wouldn't go away, so here we are.  
> I guess this is what happens when I try to take a breather from busting out my AU?  
> (I swear, I will update that again--I am very unreliable for updates! I'm sorry!)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It started out as something amazing.  
> It wouldn't stay that way.

     Isurugi Miku woke up early. She always did, when it was cold, something her father had long ago theorised as genetic—though her daughter showed absolutely no sign of any issues sleeping. The first thing she noticed was that Souichi wasn’t next to her; that also wasn’t unusual. Her husband slept on what he liked to call ‘astronaut hours,’ which were mostly just an excuse for him to get up at odd hours of the night and wander into the kitchen to try and make… The strange, bitter, acidic, brownish liquid that could only theoretically pass for coffee. She was going to have to get in there before he burned his stomach lining out.

     A little fumbling in the dark allowed her to find the arm of her wheelchair, rolling it over beside the bed and then pushing herself upright. Taking a moment to flex her shoulders, she transferred herself to the chair, leaning down once she was seated to retrieve her slippers from the floor and setting them on her feet.

     She rolled into the kitchen, glancing at the clock on the wall before turning her attention to her husband, who was mulling seriously over the coffee maker and mug that he’d moved from the countertop to the table. She burst out laughing at the scene, making him jump, notice her, then scramble to hide everything.

     “I…! Uh… I was just…!” He stumbled over his words until she took pity on him.

     “I know what you were doing.” She rolled her chair over to the table, leaning over to slide the mug and the appliance away from him before he knocked them over. “If you wanted coffee, you could have just woken me up.”

     He rubbed the back of his neck. “You said you had a long day yesterday, so… I was… I really should be able to make my own coffee.”

     “I don’t think there’s ever going to be an emergency that can only be solved by you making coffee. Pretty sure we’re safe in that department.”

     “Hey, you never know what could happen in space!”

     “I stand corrected. If any astronaut is ever captured by aliens, they can use Isurugi Souichi’s patented acid coffee to bur through the door of their prison.”

     “You intentionally made that as ridiculous as possible intentionally, didn’t you?”

     She laughed again, reaching over to hold his hand tightly. “I married you for many reasons. Your coffee was not one of them.” Pulling the items into her lap and making sure they were secure, she rolled back to the lower counter, setting them in their places. “Here, I’ll make something that won’t kill us. Pass the beans over here, would you?”

     He retrieved the glass jar of coffee beans, coming over and setting them beside the coffeemaker before leaning down to wrap his arms around her shoulders loosely so that she could still move her arms. “You said you married me for many reasons, aside from coffee. What were those?” He asked as she set about using the machine properly.

     “Fishing for compliments is considered ungentlemanly, Souichi.”

     “Oh, come on. You just insulted my coffee—shouldn’t you include a little positive support?”

     She finished setting the coffee to brew, then elbowed him in the chest to make him move back so she could reposition. “If you insist.” She leaned back in her chair, ticking off on her fingers. “Your cooking is passable, you’re reasonably hygienic, you’re well educated, you-”

     “Okay, okay. You don’t have to.”

     She smiled, dropping her hands back into her lap. “You make me laugh. How’s that?”

     He paused, grinning back, then came over and leaned down to press his forehead against hers. “Wonderful. Because I love your laugh.”

     “Well,” She said, reaching up to fox his lopsided collar, then resting her hands on his shoulders. “The main reason was I love you.”

     His grin widened. “I love you, too, Miku.”

     She hooked her hand around the back of his neck and pulled him into a kiss—

     One that was soon interrupted by their six-soon-to-be-seven-year-old wandered into the kitchen and gasped loudly, making her parents pull apart.

     “Misora! What are you doing up?” Backing up and turning around, Miku rolled over to her daughter, who was still staring at them both with her hands clasped over her mouth. Miku looked up at Souichi, then back to Misora, then back up at her husband, leaning over the arm of her chair and dropping her voice. “You know what this is about?” He shrugged.

     Finally, Misora moved her hands from her mouth. “Ka-san!” She stomped her foot, pouting. “You’re already up!”

     Miku blinked. “ **I’m** up? Honey, you’re the one who has school today!”

     But Misora continued to sulk, scuffing her foot on the kitchen floor. There was another long silence, until Souichi suddenly clapped his hands together and snapped his fingers like he’d remembered something. “Oh! Oh, oh, shoot.” He smacked his forehead. “Misora, I’m so sorry.” Coming over, he crouched down in front of her, taking her shoulders gently and squeezing them. “Ka-san sometimes gets up early in winter—I should’ve thought of that. We…” He trailed off, looking sideways at his wife, who still had her eyebrows raised. Standing up, he put an arm around his daughter’s shoulders and pulled her softly against his side, giving Miku a nervous smile. “Ah… Ka-san, do you think you could, uh, give us a minute?”

     Miku looked between them, finally fixing her husband with a questioning look. Maintaining the semi-innocent smile, he looked back at her meaningfully, and the two of them took a moment of tacit communication. Finally, she chuckled, then leaned over to give Misora a peck on the cheek. “Okay, then, tell you what; I’ll go get dressed and ready, you two take all the time you need.” With a little manoeuvring, she headed back toward the bedroom, leaving the rest of her family the kitchen.

* * *

     By the time she returned, fully dressed and brushed, including waiting for a little longer to be sure that she wouldn’t be interrupting, Souichi was alone, and had moved on to making food.

     She rolled back up to the table. “What was that about?”

     He shook his head. “Really? You can remember the catalogue numbers of how many artefacts? But you can’t remember your own birthday?”

     Miku blinked, frowning, then went over the dates in her head. “… My birthday is in three days.”

     Souichi chuckled, coming over to set a plate down in front of her, passing her chopsticks. “I know. She wanted to try and set up a big surprise.” He sat down across from her with his own plate. “She’s been planning it for days.”

     “What did you tell her?”

     “I said that since the two of us were going to be home before you, then we could start working on it after school.”

     “You don’t have much work today?”

     “Just some tours. We’re the backup crew in case something happens with the primaries, but as of right now, we’re not slated to go up until _Prominence II_ ; and that could be years from now.”

     “But you’re still on the Mars missions list?”

      He looked up at her, taking in the concerned expression she was fixing him with, and reached over to hold her hand, intertwining their fingers. “It’s fine, Miku. Come on. How long has my crew been together? We’re a well-oiled machine. Besides, we’re talking about a crew that includes Nanba-taichou and Akira-hakase. Yukiko-san and Shou. Those people we knew in high school, who were at our wedding? I think I’m pretty safe.”

     Miku sighed, smiling just a little. “I suppose I do feel a little better with Yuki-chan telling you what to do.”

     He laughed as Misora came back in, dressed as well and carrying her schoolbag. Both her parents smiled at her as she clambered into the third chair of the table, and Souichi got up quickly to fetch her some breakfast as well. She ate quickly, then gave both of them hugs before putting on her shoes and heading out, waving back at the house until she rounded the corner.

     Miku rolled herself back from the door, softly punching her husband in the side. “We should get going, too.” She reminded him. “One of us, at least, has a full day today, and she needs a ride.”

     He laughed again, rubbing the back of his neck abashedly. Leaning down to give her another quick kiss, he headed back towards their bedroom to get dressed as well.

* * *

     It was two days later, long after Misora had gone to bed, when it happened.

     Souichi had gotten a call from Yukiko, saying they had an important meeting that would run late—Miku had had to spend a whole extra hour convincing their daughter that she would see Tou-san sooner if she went to sleep and waited until morning. She’d considered waiting up herself, but decided not to risk impacting her own work and was getting ready for bed too when her husband surprised her by suddenly returning.

     He practically slid, panting, into the main hall just as she rolled out of the rest room. His face brightened when he saw her like it always did, but there was another level of excitement this time. Rushing over, he grabbed both her hands in his, shaking them with enthusiasm.

     “We’re going to Mars!” He gasped, half trying to catch his breath and half hyperventilating.

     “What?” She managed, but instead of answering right away, he ducked down and kissed her firmly and then rushed past her into their room, forcing her to follow him. “ **What**?” She asked again, slightly more loudly.

     He was pacing around the room as if in fast forward, and talking almost as quickly. “We’re going to Mars!” He repeated in the same ecstatic tone, though he did soften when she shushed him, gesturing in the direction of Misora’s room. “It happened! The primary crew is incapacitated! We just got activated!’

     ‘It was a sudden thing, apparently. Nakahara took a huge spill on some of the equipment—shattered his leg, there’s no way he’ll be in any condition for space faring anytime soon, and with preparations already underway they can’t delay any longer, and even without the no replacements rule, he’s the goddamn **Captain** , crew’s not going anywhere without him.” He chuckled to himself, shaking his head and smirking. “I would **not** want to in the Nakahara house right now.”

     “Yeah,” Miku muttered, “Imagine being **his** wife.”

     Souichi stopped, turning to look at her. She was staring at her lap, rubbing her hands together, frowning. He abandoned his wild pacing, crossing over to kneel in front of her chair, putting his hands over hers. “Hey… It’ll be alright. It’s just Mars.”

     “ **Just** Mars?”

He sighed. “Okay, okay. But it’s not like it’s Pluto. It’s a three year trip. It’s not a lifetime. She’ll hardly be ten by the time I come back.”

     “Can you promise me you **will** come back?”

     He squeezed her hands even tighter, leaning up to plant a kiss on her lips, one they held onto for a long time, her slipping her hand to the back of his head. Eventually, he pulled away enough to press his forehead against hers. “ **Nothing** could keep me from my girls.” Then he smirked again. “I’ll bring you a Mars rock.”

     “I don’t want a Mars rock.”

     “I’ll bring Misora a Mars rock.”

     “Misora might want a Mars rock.” She conceded, making them both chuckle for a moment—which then petered out into gazing at each other. “… I’ll miss you.” She said, finally.

     “I’ll miss you, too.”

     She put both arms around his neck, giving him another kiss. “I guess this means birthday plans are off if you have to go into quarantine. When’s the launch again?”

     “It’ll be fine, it’s two weeks away.”

     “That soon?”

     “We’re as prepared as the primary crew was. Hell, better. Your friend Yukiko runs a tight ship, and Shou’s never let gonna me slack off. And Gina and Jun are the best pilot and engineer in the place; only reason they weren’t on first was seniority. There’s nothing we can’t handle.”

     She put a hand over his mouth. “Don’t say that. It’s called tempting fate.” She felt him smile against her hand, then started smooching her palm until she moved it to playfully smack his head gently. “Stop that!” He just kissed her instead, leaving multiple pecks on her lips and face then standing up and moving around to lift her into his arms bridal style.

     “Oh!” She quickly threw an arm over his shoulders, hanging on tightly when he spun them around. “What are you…! You’re not supposed to be doing stuff like this, Ossan! You’ll throw your back out!”

     “Not carrying you I won’t. You’re nowhere near heavy enough for that.”

     She smiled up at him, shaking her head. “You think you can make me forget about cancelling the party?”

     “I **know** I can make you forget about cancelling the party.”

     She raised her eyebrows at him, but stayed silent until he actually sat down on their bed still holding her. Throwing as much of her weight as she could against his chest, successfully knocking him over (though given their differences in size and her lack of leverage, she suspected he mostly allowed her to), then pulling herself up by his shoulders to lean over him.

     “Challenge accepted.”

* * *

     In the end, they compromised.

     Souichi didn’t want to give up on doing something for her, but she didn’t want to risk having him interacting with too many people prior to quarantine, so the thing turned into a crew party.

     Misora and Shou’s son Sanyu were playing card games in the front room window seat as the adults found seating in the rest of the room; similarly, Gina and her girlfriend had retreated into the corner to talk quietly to each other. Meanwhile, Junichi—the quietest of the group—had settled himself at the card table and was anxiously taking apart pistachios. Shou and Yukiko had elected to join the Isurugi couple themselves around the coffee table; Miku had elected to transfer to the couch, leaning on her husband’s shoulder and holding his hand, while their friends had each claimed one of the flanking armchairs.

     “Thanks for letting us invade your house.” Yukiko told Miku affectionately.

     “Not at all. I’d probably  want to preemptively apologise for all of you having to put up with my husband for so long in cramped living conditions.”

     Shou chuckled, reaching over to clap Souichi on the shoulder. “Oh, believe me, I know what that’s like. We were college roommates.”

     Miku laughed as well, holding out a fist to him, which he bumped with his own. “You’re almost on par with me, then!” She paused, doing some math in her head. “Actually, after this, we’ll probably have spent about the same total time with him—we should commiserate together some time after you get back!” She reached out again to try and shake his hand in a promise, but Souichi batted her arm back down.

     “I’m sitting right between you two, you know.”

     Miku patted his hand while both Yukiko and Shou laughed at the pout in his voice. “Oh, I know, Ossan. I know.” She gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Don’t worry. Wouldn’t trade our time together for anything.”

     He smiled at that, wrapping an arm around her to pull her against his side to plant a kiss of his own on top of her head, then ruffled her hair in faux vengeance. “Then stop calling me ‘Ossan!’” He stopped when she elbowed him gently in the side.

     Eventually they quieted, and she snuggled closer against him. “What’s the mission statement for the _Prominence_ , anyway?”

     The question got another chuckle, and Souichi pretended to be offended again. “I told you that already!”

     “That was when I didn’t think you’d be on it! I didn’t store the info! Is it basically just ‘poke around on Mars looking for civilisation?’”

 **All** the astronauts in the room burst out laughing at that, while the two children paused in their game to watch curiously, even Junichi’s shoulders shaking in time.

     Yukiko sobered up enough to speak first, still gasping a little. “The manned mission planned when scouting drones they sent up started picking up on something that looked like it might be building ruins. They can’t get enough data with remote analysis to be sure, though—if it is the remains of structures, it’s just the cornerstones. I think the analogy was ‘like something dropped a nuclear bomb on them.’”

     “Who would be dropping a nuclear bomb in space?” The seated four looked up to see that Gina’s girlfriend had come over as well.

     “That, my dear,” Gina replied, walking over to join them after making a brief detour to the card table to snatch some pistachios from Junichi, who looked vaguely affronted in response, “Is what sending us up there is supposed to help find out.”

     “There’s also the radiation.” Shou put in.

     “Radiation?” Miku asked curiously.

     Shou looked over at Gina, frowning and gesturing with his hand; she quickly located a blank piece of paper in her bag that she’d leaned against the wall, along with a pen, and handed them off to him. Scooting forward in his chair, he set unfolded the page and set it on the table in front of them as Gina and the other woman leaned on the back of the couch.

     “Basically,” Shou began, sketching a set of circular lines, in a semi-triangular formation—each about a half-oval, the open sides pointing inward toward an almost-centre, “We’ve got partial images and mapping of these unusual stone arrangements embedded in the terrain like so, curling around like this.” He moved his hand away to show them.

     “And there’s no way they’re natural formations?” Gina’s girlfriend wanted to know.

     “It’s unlikely.” Souichi responded. “We’re talking absolutely perfect arcs of rock that seem to be heavily settled into the dirt. Not only that, but rather than being a singular stone or some large rocks, they appear to be stacked with an intelligent—like old stone walls here on Earth—rather than having been just thrown together by the wind or something.”

     “They think they may have been chiseled once, too, but they haven’t been able to get good enough images.” Shou continued. “And they have been eroded, so the only real way to tell is go there and dig them up—it was pure luck that the probe photographed them at all.”

     “Couldn’t they make a robot do that?” The question came in a child’s voice, revealing that Misora and Sanyuu had also padded over and were listening in rapt attention, Sanyuu gazing eagerly at his father as he waited for an answer to his question.

     Shou ruffled his son’s hair. “Smart thinking, little one. They thought about doing that, but decided it was too complicated a job for a robot. It took them less time and money to set up a manned mission than a robot that could safely remove the stones.” He smiled. “I bet Miku-obasan can tell you why that is.”

     “Because a robot cannot replicate human finesse and instinct.” Miku answered. “It’s also not as flexible as humans are, not too mention lacks creativity—can’t hypothesise about artefacts or information. Also I like my job, and I want to keep it. No robot archaeologists, please.” The children giggled. Miku titled her head at the poor drawing, thinking about the provided descriptions. “That does sound like it could be the foundation of something. But you said radiation?”

     Shou nodded, going back to his work. He drew a squiggly line that he quickly had to identify as a rock face while they all laughed at him, parallel to the open side of the largest arc. That done, he added a big circle along the line, at what would be the middle of the stone arcs’ layout.

     “At the centre of the whole thing,” He explained, “Is this cave.” He scribbled ink into the circle, filling it in. “Now, they were able to detect some sort of… Radiation-like wave coming out of it, but weren’t able to get inside with the probe for further study because the mouth has enough of a rock threshold to be impossible for the machine to manoeuvre over.” His drawing down, he closed the pen and set it firmly on the table, sitting back. “Our main objective, aside from investigating those arcs, is to figure out what’s in that cave.” At that moment, his phone started buzzing, and he fumbled to retrieve it from his pocket. “Oh, shoot.” Dusting himself off, he stood, placing a hand on top of his son’s head. “Didn’t realise it was that late. I gotta go put this little man to bed.”

     Sanyuu immediately started to whine. “But Papa! You said I could stay up tonight!”

     Shou crouched down to Sanyuu’s level. “And stay up you have, buddy. This is the latest you’ve ever gone to bed.”

     “But I wanna keep playing with Misora-chan!”

     “You’ll have plenty of time to play with her later, now go get your coat.” With a little more cajoling, the boy trotted off.

     Gina straightened, folding her arms with a chuckle. “He sounds like he’s gonna turn out as stubborn as you one day, Hakase.”

     Shou shuddered. “Oh, I hope not.”

     “Where’s he staying while we’re off-planet?”

     “Sister-in-law’s. She still lives nearby, even after…” He paused, still stumbling over his late wife’s name, rubbing the back of his neck. Instead, he switched tracks. “So he, uh, doesn’t have to change schools or anything.” Gina nodded, not pressing the issue has Sanyuu came sluggishly back. After some extensive farewells and good nights, Shou got his son out the door, and the two headed off.

     Gina glanced at her girlfriend, who nodded, and the engineer came around the couch, clapping her hands together. “We should get going too. Gonna need the rest.” Leaning down, she gave Miku a warm hug, then softly punched Souichi in the shoulder before casually saluting Yukiko and waving to Junichi. “It was really sweet of you to have us. Sorry we mostly hung out in the corner.”

     Miku laughed, waving her hand. “No, it’s fine. This was just a casual thing already.” Gina smiled, and her girlfriend shook Miku’s hand politely, waving and bowing goodbye to everyone else as they gathered their things and headed out the door.

     Finally, Miku poked Souichi’s arm. “Put her down, would you?” She asked, indicating Misora, who was doing a valiant attempt at pretending she wasn’t falling asleep in the window seat while trying to watch people leave. Souichi nodded, pausing only to kiss Miku again before getting up to pick up his daughter and carry her to her room as his wife blew another kiss after them.

     Yukiko chuckled quietly again. “God, it’s like when you two were dating all over again.”

     Miku blushed. “It’s not completely like that.” She leaned back against the couch. “Do you ever think about a relationship?”

     “I have one.” Yukiko responded. “I’m married to my work.”

     “Really? And you didn’t invite me to the wedding? What’s your work like? Is it a good spouse?”

     “Quite charming, actually. It always challenges me, never gives me false compliments, and does’t steal the blankets.”

     “That does sound like the perfect partner for you.”

     Yukiko grinned, nodding, then stood. “I should get going too, though. I have to give our pilot and com officer a ride home.” She jerked her thumb at Junichi, who was still contemplating the bowl of pistachios.

     Miku looked over her shoulder, studying the younger man. “He’s **really** com?” She whispered to Yukiko.

     The other woman nodded. “Yeah, I know. But he’s good for it, trust me—I’m sure your husband has said so, too.” She leaned down to whisper back. “I think he just saves all his talking for the job. Honestly, I don’t mind.” She shrugged, and Miku nodded thoughtfully.

     Souichi came back in as Yukiko was rousing Junichi. “You two heading out as well?” She nodded, and he gave the both fist bumps. Yukiko also waved to Miku as she headed out the door, and Souichi walked over to stand by the window as Yukiko’s car pulled out. As the engine sounds faded, he sighed. “… It’s gonna be a long mission.”

     “You think I don’t know that?” Miku asked, looking around the room; then, “Hey, come help me move my legs up here.” He turned around, coming over to assist in lifting her legs up onto the couch as well so that they were hanging over the arm, then moved around and sat down on the other side of her again, draping an arm over her when she put her head in his lap.

     They stayed in lethargic silence for a while before he mumbled “We should clean.”

     “Yeah,” She murmured back.

     He hesitated for another long time. “But… I also just want to stay like this for a bit.”

     They did.

     Three years later, she was going to wish she  **had** gotten him sick.

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I am not paraplegic, or paralysed in anyway. I did do research, but that only goes so far.  
> I apologise for any inaccuracies or impossibilities here. They are purely unintentional.


End file.
